One year ago, on April 5, 2024, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck near Tewksbury , rattling homes and nerves across New Jersey and beyond. The strongest quake to hit the state in more than a century, it was felt from Virginia to Maine but left little lasting damage.
The Hunterdon County earthquake was the most significant to hit North Jersey since Aug. 10, 1884. On that day, a magnitude 5.2 quake near Jamaica Bay in New York shook buildings as far inland as Rahway.
Only three other quakes in modern history have caused damage in the Garden State: one in 1737 near Weehawken, another in 1783 in the Rockaway Township area and a third in 1927 off the coast near Asbury Park. The damage in those cases was limited to collapsed chimneys and falling objects—similar to the minor incidents reported in 2024, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management…